Airlines ponder what to do with aeroplanes during downtime

Mumbai: What will airlines do with idle planes when they cut the number of flights to tide over rising fuel prices?
Jet Airways India Ltd, the country’s largest private airline, plans to use the idle time to complete repainting some of its planes as it rebrands its low-fare subsidiary JetLite India Ltd.
Other airlines are exploring options to lease their planes to rival carriers or use them as spares, while some plan to use the downtime for overhauls.
“We cannot keep on flying in this high-cost environment,” said Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive of Jet Airways. “We will certainly look at rationalising the routes. If it results in planes left unused, we will use them for painting or other related works.”
As aviation fuel soars to record levels, the country’s airlines are considering cost-saving measures such as cutting the number of flights on select routes or using smaller aircraft, in effect grounding some of their planes.Aviation experts note the turn in industry logic. They had earlier said it would be ideal to keep planes flying rather than on the ground to make profits, but this has now reversed.
Jet Airways, for instance, has decided to replace its Airbus A330 planes on routes such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with the smaller Boeing B737.
The A330, which can carry 250-290 passengers, is mostly used on long-haul routes while the B737, with about 150 seats, is used for short-haul, or domestic, routes.
17/06/08 P.R Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2008